valdemar mortonsen 1876 two-story cottage with frear "artificial stone" window hoods and keystones demolished

with the surrounding neighborhoods virtually unrecognizable, post-fire chicago two-story cottages have been on chicago’s “threatened” historic buildings list for years now. the “for sale” sign on this particular cottage quickly came and went in recent months, the green fence erected quickly thereafter. thankfully, i repeatedly documented this cottage and now gone neighboring post-fire buildings before the neighborhood was completely decimated with a new housing stock you wouldn’t bother looking at.

at first, i suspected it may have been an early 1850s-1860s single-story wood-framed cottage - possibly transplanted there from a nearby location, where it was then raised in the 1870s and bricked over and ornamented with typical italianate treatment. at the time, i had yet to go inside and was limited to data pulled from sanborns, city directories, and its exterior characteristics.

after the beginning of its construction yesterday afternoon, that all changed. i finally had a chance to carefully evaluate the interior, concluding instead that it was built as a two-story. the two-story structure is a hybrid, with first floor comprised of load-bearing masonry walls supporting a wood-framed second story reinforced with heavily notched, nailed, and pegged white pine sill plates and girts used to support floor joists, wall studs, etc.. the interlocking mortised and tenoned sill plates rest directly against the outer brick walls. the second-floor sheathing consists of irregular-sized circular-sawn old growth white pine boards concealed with brick veneer matching the first floor.

the exposed sheathing below the cornice exhibited no traces or “shadows” of early clapboard – one of many dead giveaways – and the windows and door are adorned with frear, or artificial, stone. inside, i was pleasantly surprised that the elaborately designed solid walnut wood "stock pattern" staircase and multi-part casings, executed by palmer, fuller, and company, were intact. the staircase was virtually untouched, with original oversized box-shaped newel post, elegantly turned and tapered spindles, and fret-sawn wood ornament applied to the stair stringers. additionally, there were window hoods consisting of segmented arches flanking centrally located oversized keystones with protruding anthemions or palmettes, a popular architectural design element used in the 1870s. in fact, with the exception of the slightly modified door surround and newer door, the façade looked the way very much it did from the time it was built, which was all the more reason to meticulously document before, during, and after demolition.

the italianate style house was built around 1876, with printer valdemar mortonsen occupying it shortly after completed. the exterior facade retains the original fret-sawn pine wood bracketed cornice, oculus, and distinctive cast frear stone window hoods and keystones. it still sits below grade, before city streets were raised to accommodate sewer pipe sometime in the late 1870's

after studying several hundred chicago cottages before and during their demolition, i was surprised to see only one other example from this era where the second story was treated with a thin brick veener.

i’ve included additional images of structural “systems” i’ve extracted from similarly built houses of the period to illuminate my description.

this was the cottage that inspired me to launch the 501c3 chicago workers cottage association, a countermeasure to this type of destruction, that will call greater attention to these overlooked and quickly vanishing structures. hopefully, it will make it more difficult to bash chicago architectural legacies like this one into the ground without notice. the association and its mission are still a work in progress, as i can only do so much on my own.

further reading:

TWO-STORY POST-FIRE WORKERS COTTAGE BUILT FOR VALDEMAR MORTONSEN IN 1876 FACES DEMOLITION

VALDEMAR MORTONSEN TWO-STORY BRICK COTTAGE THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION